Rich Man’s Heathers: Both films are definitely in the dark comedy genre, but I feel like World’s Greatest Dad has more meat on the bone. Out of the two, it definitely made me think more.
★★★★☆
World’s Greatest Dad is a black comedy film written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, who, if you’re a 90s child, you may know as the voice of Pain from Hercules. It stars Robin Williams as the titular dad, Lance Clayton, and Daryl Sabara (the boy from Spy Kids) as Robin’s son Kyle. Lance is a failed-writer-turned-poetry-teacher at the high school his son attends. He’s like the sad-sack version of Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s Society. No one attends his classes, his girlfriend (another teacher) hides their relationship, and he is generally ignored by the other staff. His son Kyle has only one friend (played by Evan Martin) and could be described in one word: douchebag. He’s vulgar, stupid, and generally seems to enjoy only one thing: jerking off. He hates all music, art, and film. He has no hobbies. He is disrespectful, ungrateful, and, in general, a terrible human being. At the end of the first act, Kyle dies in freak auto-erotic strangulation accident.
The remainder of the movie is basically Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Lance covers up the circumstances of his son’s death to save his son embarrassment. However, Kyle’s death snowballs and Lance finds himself getting everything he wants: popularity, notoriety, and a book deal. Kyle’s memory becomes revered, with other students recounting (falsely) how good of a person he was. As the movie rolls on, Lance struggles with the guilt of allowing his son to be built up as a false idol.
This is a black comedy. There are very few laugh-out-loud funny scenes. But almost every scene will make you smile. The acting in it is well-done, with Robin really showing that he can play muted humor and doesn’t need to be a crazy man to get you to laugh. The other actors play their parts well, but nothing stands out as spectacular. I really enjoyed the soundtrack. It reminded me of 500 Days of Summer, because every song felt like it was written for the scene it was being played over. The scene in which Lance discovers his son has no sound except for the music selection and the scene just feels natural. The plot is well-crafted and does a good job really getting the viewer inside of Lance’s head. As you watch the film, you ask of yourself the same questions that Lance asks.
On its face, this is a 3 star movie. It’s fine. However, the movie gets another star because it is fantastic in the way it portrays the tangled web of emotions that Lance experiences. He is sorrowful at the loss of his son, arrogant with his new-found fame, greedy for more of the limelight, and anxious that his cover-up will be discovered. All of these emotions ebb and flow throughout the film and force the viewer to question the ethics of Lance’s situation. His lie about the circumstances of his son’s death can be seen as self-serving villainy, ends-justifying-the-means good intentions, or even the last heartfelt act of a loving father. The ability of the film to create a situation that exists in all three of these paradigms was quite powerful. I recommend checking out World’s Greatest Dad.
World’s Greatest Dad is available for streaming on Netflix
Next week Josh is watching Along Came A Spider. I remember this movie because it played on TNT every other weekend in 2005, so when I found it on Netflix recently I decided to give it a shot. It’s a crime thriller without any deeper meanings, but I enjoyed it and I hope Josh will too.
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